Meets Give Georgetown Three Provisional Qualifiers

With the Penn Relays and the Big East Championships approaching, the Georgetown outdoor track and field team sent contingents to the Sea Ray Relays at the University of Tennessee and to the Lou Onesty/Milton G. Abramson Invitational in Charlottesville, Va. last weekend. The Hoyas raced to a bevy of NCAA provisional times from both the men and the women at Tennessee, while the women’s team took third at the team competition in Virginia.

“The way we enter these meets, part is for the experience-gaining process, part is to bring down the times and another is to get work done,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer said.

Georgetown was one of 117 track and field colleges, universities and clubs that participated in the Sea Ray Relays. Even with the tough level of competition, the Hoyas got first-place performances from senior Autumn Fogg in the women’s 3,000-meter run and from the men’s 4×1,500-meter relay team of sophomore Dylan Welsh, senior Adam Daniels, sophomore Dan Tebbano and senior Rich Zielinski.

“It was a good meet, and the competition level was very good,” Helmer said. “In most instances, the runners who we thought were capable of rising to the occasion rose to the competition.”

Two weeks after automatically qualifying for the NCAAs in the 1,500-meter run at the Duke Invitational, Fogg turned in another impressive time of 9:35.92 in double the distance.

“[Autumn] is really on a roll. She’s ranked No. 1 in the country in the 1,500 meters and we wanted to get her away from the event,” Helmer said. “You don’t want to hammer out the same race every weekend.”

Other highlights on the women’s side included senior Sasha Spencer’s NCAA provisional time of 53:31 in the 400-meter event. Spencer was the second collegiate runner to finish the race. Sophomore Erin Sicher also pulled in an NCAA provisional time in the 1500-meter race. Sicher finished in 4:23.24, to qualify for fourth place.

Georgetown’s women’s relay teams also obtained solid results at the Sea Ray Relays. Freshman Treniere Clement, senior Kristen Gordon, freshman Colleen Kelly and senior Heather Blackard contributed to the Hoyas’ third-place time of 8:58.01 in the 4×800 relay race. Clement, Gordon, Fogg, and junior Marsha Dixon took third place in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:41.16.

The 4×1,500 meter relay team’s victory (15:40.74) was one of three relay results in the top five for the Georgetown men. The distance medley relay team of seniors Isidro Pimentel, Nick Reynolds, Corey Smith and Welsh were the runners-up, coming in at a time of 9:39.50. Meanwhile, the 4×800 meter relay team finished fourth in 7:30.61. The team consisted of sophomores Ezra Richards, George O’Loughlin, junior Brandon Roche and freshman Jesse O’Connell.

Individual highlights included senior Josh Rollins’ NCAA provisional mark of 15.95 meters in the triple jump. Senior Sean Flynn threw the hammer 203′ 10″ for a provisional mark while O’Connell ran fifth in the 800-meter run in a provisional time of 1:48.88.

“Jesse’s time got him ranked 15th in the nation in the 800 meters,” Helmer said. “I think he realizes what level he’s risen to.”

At the Virginia meet, the third-place women’s team was led by first-place races from sophomore Marni Kruppa in the 3,000-meter run and sophomore Carly Nuzbach in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Kruppa, who holds the sixth-best time in the nation at 10,000 meters, finished her 3,000-meter race in 10:00.86. Meanwhile, in her debut performance at the steeplechase, Nuzbach came in at a time of 11:37.26.

The men finished eighth in the team competition as they got third-place performances from junior Matt Henry in the 800-meters and freshman Matt Lewis in the triple jump.